The beginning of the pro kabaddi league season 5 going from July 28. This time it will be going be very special. A total of 12 teams will participate in this fifth edition, which will be bigger than ever. The teams are divided into two pools, and a total of in 132 matches and 2 teams will face the finals. This time there will be a lot different, the format has also been changed, under the new scheme of things the old rules will not be followed this time.
In previous versions, according to the traditional system, eight teams were part of the tournament. And it was played according to a round-robin format. In which all teams met each other twice and the top four went to the knockout stage. In the first edition, Pink Pink Panthers won, In the second edition it was won by U Mumba, while Patna Pirate won the 3rd and 4th season consecutively in order to maintain their Kabaddi dominance.
Organizers have come up with unique ideas to bring new season, in which they have divided the teams into two pools. Considering the strength of the teams in this, the teams have been equally distributed in both the pools. In such a situation, all the teams will play with each other and an equal number of matches each team will play in each place.
Another concern for organizers may have been that this long-running season should not be very dull, for which they have introduced leagues such as Inter-Zonal Week and Wildcards Week. With such 12 teams, it became important to ensure that the lesser points teams in initials should remain relevant till the end, for which a long playoff time has been fixed between the six teams.
The league, which starts on 28th July, will end on October 20. Each team will play 22 games in the league stage, 15 games will be intra-zone and seven inter-zone matches. There will be a total of 11 matches will be played at one zone, and there will be 6 match each team plays at their home venue.
There will be a total of six matches in the playoff, which will take place from October 22 to 28. In which 3 top teams of both zones will reach.
Oct 22 | Mumbai | QUALIFIER 1 | QUALIFIER 2 |
Oct 23 | Mumbai | QUALIFIER 3 | ELIMINATOR 1 |
Oct 24 | Mumbai | Rest day | Rest day |
Oct 25 | Mumbai | Rest day | Rest day |
Oct 26 | Chennai | ELIMINATOR 2 | |
Oct 27 | Chennai | Rest day | Rest day |
Oct 28 | Chennai | Final |
This way the playoffs will take place.